A HIGH-END FOODSERVICE EXPERIENCE FOR NEENAH HIGH SCHOOL
Location:
Neenah, WI
Scope:
Foodservice Design, Equipment Specification, Sourcing and Installation
When you walk into the main cafeteria at Neenah High School in Neenah, Wisc., you might think you’re at a college campus. Rather than the traditional serving line seen at most high schools, this new building boasts a servery with stations, including a pizza station and one where students can get made-to-order food. The design allows students more autonomy, choice and variety at meal time, which helps make for a more enjoyable experience and encourage participation.
Designing the servery took a lot of collaboration and communication between the K-12 foodservice design team at Boelter and the designers at Bray Architects. They worked together to strategically place each station for efficient traffic flow.
“The area had some built-in stations for trash, napkins and condiments, and those all had to work with the equipment at the stations. We had a lot of coordination between us and Boelter to make sure everything would fit at installation.”
– CHRIS EGER, ARCHITECT, BRAY ARCHITECTS
Some of the design elements that made the stations work in this space include:
- Moveable POS stations. Rolling these out during the day allows more space for students to flow through, and they can be brought back in and locked up at night.
- Interactive doors between the kitchen and servery allow for easy access and speed of delivery.
- An induction cook-top with a hood in the made-to-order station helps add flexibility to the menu.
A Collaborative Effort
The collaboration between Boelter, Bray and the foodservice director at Neenah started well before ground was broken on the new high school. Getting involved during the early planning stages allowed Brett Kroening, project manager, Boelter, the opportunity to accommodate some of the client’s requests that were unique to this project. Not only did they want the serving area to be set up as stations, they requested a large amount of storage for the facility, including dry storage as well as refrigeration and freezer units. “We took the client’s wishes, our knowledge of the equipment needs, and worked with the design team at Bray to carve out space for the client’s requests,” Kroening says.
Kroening was also able to work with the foodservice director to assess equipment needs. Budgets are always a concern when it comes to school foodservice projects, and Kroening was able to utilize some of the convection ovens at the old location to save money on the new build. New kettles, steamers and tilt skillets with updated features helped update the production value and efficiency for the cookline. “Brett understands what it takes to make equipment specs able to be competitively bid, which is an important facet of school projects,” Eger says.
Distributed Dining with Flair
In addition to the main servery, this project included two distributed dining facilities. Just as the stations in the cafeteria provide a variety of options for the students, these two areas were designed to increase the types of dining available, with one designed to function as a coffee shop and the other set up like a c-store with grab-and-go sandwiches and portable meals.
“Designing these areas was fun because they’re so different from what you usually see in a high school,” Kroening says. “The coffee shop was set up like a retail operation, with smoothie machines and a coffee machine. A merchandiser with both refrigeration and grab-and-go displays works for juices, muffins and breakfast sandwiches.”
In the convenience store model, students are offered a variety of sandwiches and quick foods from merchandisers and displays. The food is all produced in the main kitchen and transported on carts, where it’s transferred to hot cabinets for holding until time to serve students.
From the main cafeteria to the distributed dining areas, branding, signage and built in furniture help give a food court atmosphere to this school foodservice facility. Thanks to the cooperation and teamwork between Bray, Boelter and the school administration, students were greeted with a great new place to enjoy good nutrition during their school day when doors opened in August 2023.
